Queensland Sports Minister Tim Mander has continued to stand by oral commitments that 2032 Olympic Games construction projects will come in on budget, even as polling data points to a drop in community support for those assurances.
Polling conducted through the Resolve Political Monitor between 6 and 10 October found roughly two in three respondents unconvinced that the government would hold spending within its $7.1 billion envelope.
Speaking on Saturday, Mander reiterated assurances from the LNP government that larger projects were tracking to schedule and within budget, while noting that no overarching plan would be made public, and that outcomes would unfold incrementally as individual decisions were reached rather than according to any fixed timeline.
The minister described the RNA Showgrounds upgrade announcement in August — a venue carrying a $287.5 million public price tag outside the Olympic programme — as a template for staged disclosure, adding that costs for individual projects would be made available to the public on a rolling basis as the Games drew nearer.
When pressed on whether the state held concrete evidence to support its position, Mander indicated that nothing had surfaced to point toward budget overruns, adding that the timetable for finalising contracts was being managed carefully to keep spending in line. The minister did not say whether a financial audit would be published once further deals were in place.
Bleijie, asked about the polling results on Friday, told reporters the government was committed to fiscal discipline and transparency — qualities he believed would address the concerns voters had raised.
A Resolve poll drawing on responses from 434 Queensland voters spread across party lines found that close to two in three — regardless of political affiliation — placed little or no trust in the state's ability to keep Olympic Games spending within the set budget.
Among those surveyed, voters aligned with Labor and the Greens registered the highest levels of confidence that the administration would hold to its $7.1 billion budget target, at 29 per cent and 30 per cent respectively. Supporters of One Nation expressed the lowest levels of trust in the state's fiscal commitments, whereas roughly three in ten LNP voters believed the government would hold to its budgetary targets.
Scrutiny over whether the state could deliver the projects within their $7.1 billion budget was entirely to be expected ahead of any Olympic and Paralympic Games, Mander noted, describing such questions as a routine part of the pre-Games process.
The mounting expenses tied to supporting infrastructure — including demands for upgraded accommodation and better access to the Fitzroy River rowing venue in Rockhampton — were costs the state intended to meet, he added, framing them as an anticipated outgrowth of hosting the Games rather than an unwanted burden.
The day after an independent assessment cleared the waterway for competition use, World Rowing raised concerns about the state's readiness claim, noting that housing arrangements and support services for athletes had not yet been resolved.
Questions about whether the Victoria Park venue — still taking shape on its construction site — can dependably connect to the transport upgrades planned to ease movement during the Games have continued to draw attention.
